Source: Soul Train.com- Stephen McMillian

“BUM BUM BUM BUM BUM!” Michael Jackson high-spiritedly sings in that memorable opening line of the classic Jackson 5 hit “ABC.”

By the time The Jackson 5′s second album, titled after that single, was released on May 8, 1970, the group was on a commercial roll.

When The Jackson 5, consisting of brothers Michael, Marlon, Jermaine, Tito and Jackie Jackson, burst onto the music scene in the fall of 1969, their popularity was unprecedented. It was the year after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., when riots and unrest spread throughout many cities over the loss of one of the most influential leaders in American history. The Vietnam War was taking away the lives of many young men and caused demonstrations and protests throughout the country.

The Jackson 5 served as a bright spot among youths, particularly among black youths. It was the first time that they had a young group in the music industry whom they could look up to, admire and emulate. Although the Afro started to be popularized around the mid-sixties, the fact that the Jackson 5 brothers all had naturals had many black children growing large afros to emulate their idols. Kids also wanted to copy the mod, loud fashions the group wore, from the fringed vests and loud shirts to the bell bottom pants. Indeed, The Jackson 5 were a very timely group and heroes to the new generation.

The group’s first single, “I Want You Back,” was released in October 1969 and with the help of lots of publicity from the group’s label, Motown Records, along with two major television appearances on ABC’s Hollywood Palace and CBS’s The Ed Sullivan Show, the single went to number one on both the soul and pop singles charts and became their first platinum single (most people seem to remember Ed Sullivan as being the group’s first TV appearance, perhaps because the program was a Sunday night staple that viewers watched every week). The group’s debut album, titled Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5, was released the week of their legendary Ed Sullivan show appearance and was a huge success, going to number one on the soul charts in February 1970 for nine weeks and number four on the pop charts and went gold.

The album was produced predominantly by Bobby Taylor along with the Corporation, the group of writers and producers who were responsible for The Jackson 5′s early hits which consisted of Motown President Berry Gordy, Hal Davis, Freddie Perren, Deke Richards and Fonce Mizell. However, after a reported fallout between Bobby and Berry, Bobby no longer worked with the group and the majority of their material was henceforth produced and written by The Corporation until around 1972.

The group’s first album had more of an adult sound and feel (the group’s classic version of Smokey Robinson & the Miracles’ “Who’s Lovin’ You” was even played at blue light in the basement parties). Berry wanted the group’s music to appeal more to kids and teens. Hence, the material on the second album and subsequent albums up until 1972 had a sound dubbed as “bubblegum soul.”

The classic album cover featured a photo taken of the group posing with the life-sized letters A, B and C. This photo, as well as a number of photos on the back album cover’s collage, was taken at Santa Monica Beach. Some of the other collage photos were taken at a baseball game between The Jackson 5 and Berry Gordy. In fact, a close up photo of Berry wearing mirror reflector shades appears in the collage as well as a photo of Michael with his mother Katherine, which was the only time that either she or Berry appeared on any of the group’s album jackets.

The album, with material recorded from August 1969 to March 1970, began with the group’s third single “The Love You Save,” (the title was a nod to Joe Tex’s hit “The Love You Save May Be Your Own”) an uptempo tune with a highly charged lead vocal by Michael with cute verses such as “When we played tag in grade school, you wanted to be it;” “When Benji held your hand he felt electricity;” and “When Alexander called you, he said to ring your chime.” The response to the record, which had its debut on the group’s second Ed Sullivan Show appearance on May 10, was huge. Two weeks after it entered the soul singles charts, it zoomed to number one for six weeks and also went to number one on the pop charts for two weeks, knocking the Beatles’ “Long and Winding Road” off the top spot and becoming one of the most popular tunes of the summer of 1970 and the group’s third platinum single.

It also marked a prophecy that came true which Berry predicted, that the group’s first three singles at Motown would go number one.

The album’s following track, “One More Chance,” was an engaging ballad about a guy pleading for his girlfriend to come back to him, promising he’ll make it up to her for all the wrong he’s done. (Some record buyers who were new to The Jackson 5 and saw the title “One More Chance” on the album thought this was the group’s first single due to the chorus of “Oh baby give me one more chance” from “I Want You Back.”)

Ironically and interestingly, younger brother Randy Jackson recorded a tune entitled “One More Chance” for the group’s 1984 Victory album, which was later recorded by sister Janet Jackson as a B-side for her 1993 single “If.” Michael also recorded a song entitled “One More Chance” in 2003, written by soul crooner R. Kelly and featuring great vocals by Michael.

The third track on the album was the title track, “ABC.” The second single release, which was released in February, was thought by some to be a children’s nursery rhyme when they first heard it on the radio. Apparently many kids loved this “funky nursery rhyme,” for it went to number one on the soul charts for four weeks in April 1970 and number one on the pop charts for two weeks that same month, knocking the Beatles’ “Let It Be” off the top spot, and was the group’s second platinum single. Berry Gordy originally rejected the song, thinking that it should be titled “1,2,3.” In fact, the group did re-record the song as “1,2,3,” only rearranging the lyrics that contain “ABC” with “1,2,3.” Hence, the chorus was “1,2,3 easy as A,B,C.” However, Berry decided that the original version was better and more commercial.

In Michael’s autobiography Moonwalk, he said of “ABC”: “I’ll never forget the first time I heard ‘ABC.’ I thought it was so good. I remember feeling this eagerness to sing that song, to get in the studio and really make it work for us.”

The fact that “ABC” and “The Love You Save” knocked the Beatles out of the number one spot on the singles charts is indicative of the fact that The Jackson 5 were the new heroes in pop music.

The next track on the album, “2-4-6-8,” was a cute track similar to “ABC” which relays the children’s game 2-4-6-8 to a dedicated pre-adolescent relationship. One of its memorable lines is when Michael sang: “I may be a little fella, but my heart is as big as Texas. I have all the love a man can give and maybe a little bit extra.”

The fourth cut is their great remake of the Smokey Robinson & Miracles hit “(Come Round Here) I’m the One You Need.” The last song on side one was one of The Jackson 5′s most outstanding tunes, their cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Don’t Know Why I Love You.” Michael sang this song with such aching urgency, as if he lived every word of it. Towards the end, Michael sang with so much soulful conviction that he got slightly hoarse and, before his brothers took over the song’s final lines, he simply went “whew” which was warranted for his great vocal workout.

Side two begins with “Never Had a Dream Come True,” which was written and originally recorded by Stevie Wonder with lead vocals by Michael and Jermaine. The next track was the moody “True Love Can Be Beautiful” written by Bobby Taylor, Leonard Caston Jr. and someone listed as J. Jackson, leading some to suspect that either Jackie Jackson or maybe even the group’s dad Joseph Jackson wrote this track. However, it was written by Jeanna Jackson, who has no relation to the group. These two songs truly show off the group’s harmony.

Next up was the group’s terrific cover of the Delfonics’ “La La Means I Love You,” with another great vocal lead by Michael which did the Delfonics proud.

Track number four on side two was the group’s ultra funky cover of the Funkadelic tune “I’ll Bet You” anchored by an electric wah-wah guitar with lyrics like Marlon singing, “Ice cube on a red hot stove will melt and I’ll bet you,” Tito singing “If you bet on a horse and the horse don’t win you lose, and I’ll bet you,” and Jermaine singing “You can’t know what’s going on if you’re asleep and I’ll bet you.”

The next to last track was the gorgeous ballad “I Found That Girl,” which contained a truly terrific lead vocal by Jermaine. This was the B-side to “The Love You Save” single and it entered the charts in August 1970 due to heavy radio airplay. It was their second double sided hit (the first was “I Want You Back” with “Who’s Lovin’ You” as its B-side).

The last track on the album was the group’s funky cover of The Supremes’ “Young Folks,” which simply stated the world “better get ready for the young folks.” The lyrics could have been written “better get ready for The Jackson 5,” because young folks all over America gave the group their second gold album.

ABC was a huge hit on the albums charts, reaching number four on the pop charts and number one for twelve weeks on the soul charts. It was displaced for two weeks by Isaac Hayes’ Isaac Hayes Movement album, but ABC knocked it out of the top spot and regained its number one status. It is long remembered as one of the summer of 1970′s most popular albums and remains a cherished favorite of Jackson 5 fans (a comedian once said that when he was going to run away from home as a child, one of the things he was going to take with him was the Jackson 5′s ABC album).

The group had its fourth number one single with the classic touching ballad “I’ll Be There” and it marked the first time in music history that a group had their first four single releases reach number one on the charts.

No other group has ever had a debut like The Jackson 5. They went on to sell millions of other albums for Motown and later on the Epic label. Their music, like the group itself, is legendary and timeless with lyrics that are fun, catchy, memorable and “simple as doh-re-mi, ABC, 123.”

Download The Jackson 5′s ABC on iTunes.

Stephen McMillian is a journalist, writer, actor, filmmaker, dancer/performer, Soul Train historian and soul music and movie historian. He is also a former Soul Train dancer.

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